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| Heading out for some afternoon bouldering at La Curva |
I'm looking over my activity log for the last month and I guess I did OK in terms of total days climbing. Afterall, it was a work month. Maybe I didn't get out much more than the monthly norm, but I kept things moving along. Although I have to admit, I've been slacking off a bit when it comes to work, in order to step it up on the climbing front. My freedom to do that is one of the perks of being (the equivalent of) a tenured professor who is not so very far away from retirement.
Counting up the total for the month, I logged 16 days climbing (including 4 days in my gym) and 5 good hikes. Mixed in with that are a few days of yardwork, which tends to be fairly demanding on my body. Clearly, I don't intend my climbing and hiking activities to be anything resembling an organized training program. I'm just trying to get out as much as I can, have a good time climbing and hiking, and stay relatively fit in the process, I'm also hoping I'm in good enough shape by summer to send a couple of challenging routes, when the time comes.
One thing I verified from keeping the log is how hard it is to know which days are going to be the good ones, in terms of performance. A kind of uncertainty principal seems to reign. While it may be true I'm more likely to have a better day when I'm well rested and the weather conditions are optimal, chaos also enters into the equation. Some days conditions are completely in my favor but I climb poorly none-the-less. Other days I should be tired and conditions are less than optimal, but I somehow manage to climb surprisingly well. I imagine this is a well recognized phenomenon for those who have scientifically observed athletic performance, but it's interesting to me, to see it displayed in the information I recorded last month.
Getting on with, let's talk about this month. Instead of keeping a complete log, I thought I'd just keep track of a few special days out.
November 4: A good day (maybe my best so far) bouldering alone at La Curva. I managed to climb this stout V2 (third time in my life) which has a challenging and intimidating top-out move. Too bad the video isn't very good:
After that I sent this stout V3 roof, a problem that had been stopping me cold since I first climbed it last year:
I even worked the beautiful, nearby V4 problem (note to self: be careful you don't crack your head open when trying this problem alone!) although I didn't have enough gas to get my second send. All and all, I climbed 9 problems.
November 6: A day climbing in the Matrix with Martín, Analía, Rafi and Gaby. Among other things, we did the two seldom-done 5.10 routes on the wall higher up the hill. These are routes I hand drilled maybe 15 years ago. It looked like we were the only people who had climbed there this year.
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| The last part of a seldom-done 5.10 |
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| Stem! |
Martín was stoked and climbed the route on lead.
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| Get the clip, Martín |
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| Starting up a sea of steepness |
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| A crux move |
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| Reach the top and .... |
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| Stem! |
The other route looks like this:
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| Getting ready to start the difficulties |
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| Butt shot on roof |
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| Finishing up the crux |
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| An exciting move to the top |
November 8: A nice day bouldering in La Cabezona. The first vid is a warm up boulder, maybe one of the best V0s on La Barrosa.
The following boulder is yet another La Barrosa super classic for the grade (maybe hard V2 or easy V3).
I also did a couple of cool face problems. This first one is maybe V1 or V2 and it's only the second time I've ever climbed it.
This was the first time I'd been able to climb the next boulder. I'd tried it several times before (always when I was tired) and I thought it felt pretty hard. Now that I've finally done it, I don't think it's much harder than V2, athough a sit start looks pretty sick. A very good problem.
This was the first time I'd been able to climb the next boulder. I'd tried it several times before (always when I was tired) and I thought it felt pretty hard. Now that I've finally done it, I don't think it's much harder than V2, athough a sit start looks pretty sick. A very good problem.
December 22: Once again I've let the blog slide and tomorrow we're off to Córdoba for summer break. More on that in my next post. Meanwhile, for the past six weeks I've been bouldering and hiking at a pretty good rate. I've made a sort of video catalog of some of the problems I've done, so I've decided to put some links to the youtube videos. If anything, this could give a sort of video guide to some of the easier problems on La Barrosa. Later I hope to put up a more complete video guidebook, but for now I'll just put up an assortment of videos.
A new V2 problem at Techos de Mierda. For some reason I never figured out the right way to start this problem until last year.
A stout V3 problem at Techos de Mierda
A classic V2 face in Tierra Media
A new V2 problem at Techos de Mierda. For some reason I never figured out the right way to start this problem until last year.
A stout V3 problem at Techos de Mierda
A classic V2 face in Tierra Media
A newer V3 roof traverse in La Curva
Extreme Unction (a boulder problem with a name!) in Tierra Media
One of the harder problems I did, a slopy V4 traverse, although I did step back into the chimney at the end, instead of finishing up with the full-blown mantle.
A stout V4 project at Techos de Mierda. The rule is you can't use anything on the line of the big rail.
Extreme Unction (a boulder problem with a name!) in Tierra Media
One of the harder problems I did, a slopy V4 traverse, although I did step back into the chimney at the end, instead of finishing up with the full-blown mantle.
A stout V4 project at Techos de Mierda. The rule is you can't use anything on the line of the big rail.
